In this work, we developed a thin calcium degradation method introducing sensitive electrical resistance monitoring. We have demonstrated structural models of the inorganic/organic thin films to evaluate barrier properties against water and oxygen permeation. The time-dependent transmission curve of a multibarrier coated on both sides of the polyethersulfone substrate had a linear slope which was measured as 5.17×10−3g∕m2day at 20°C and 60% relative humidity. This system can measure an accurate permeation rate with a high sensitivity in the measurable range of 101–10−6g∕m2day. In addition, the test structure devised is applicable to various fabrication techniques for passivation layers with durability and ultralow permeability for flexible organic light emitting diodes.

Solution-processed silver nanowire (AgNW) has been considered as a promising material for next-generation flexible transparent conductive electrodes. However, despite the advantages of AgNWs, some of their intrinsic drawbacks, such as large surface roughness and poor interconnection between wires, limit their practical application in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Herein, we report a high-performance AgNW-based hybrid electrode composed of indium-doped zinc oxide (IZO) and poly (3,4-ethylenediowythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) [PEDOT:PSS]. The IZO layer protects the underlying AgNWs from oxidation and corrosion and tightly fuses the wires together and to the substrate. The PEDOT:PSS effectively reduces surface roughness and increases the hybrid films’ transmittance. The fabricated electrodes exhibited a low sheet resistance of 5.9 Ωsq⁻¹ with high transmittance of 86% at 550 nm. The optical, electrical, and mechanical properties of the AgNW-based hybrid films were investigated in detail to determine the structure-property relations, and whether optical or electrical properties could be controlled with variation in each layer’s thickness to satisfy different requirements for different applications. Flexible OLEDs (f-OLEDs) were successfully fabricated on the hybrid electrodes to prove their applicability; their performance was even better than those on commercial indium doped tin oxide (ITO) electrodes.

The present study demonstrates a flexible gas-diffusion barrier film, containing an SiO(2)/Al(2)O(3) nanolaminate on a plastic substrate. Highly uniform and conformal coatings can be made by alternating the exposure of a flexible polyethersulfone surface to vapors of SiO(2) and Al(2)O(3), at nanoscale thickness cycles via RF-magnetron sputtering deposition. The calcium degradation test indicates that 24 cycles of a 10/10 nm inorganic bilayer, top-coated by UV-cured resin, greatly enhance the barrier performance, with a permeation rate of 3.79 × 10(-5) g m(-2) day(-1) based on the change in the ohmic behavior of the calcium sensor at 20 °C and 50% relative humidity. Also, the permeation rate for 30 cycles of an 8/8 nm inorganic bilayer coated with UV resin was beyond the limited measurable range of the Ca test at 60 °C and 95% relative humidity. It has been found that such laminate films can effectively suppress the void defects of a single inorganic layer, and are significantly less sensitive against moisture permeation. This nanostructure, fabricated by an RF-sputtering process at room temperature, is verified as being useful for highly water-sensitive organic electronics fabricated on plastic substrates.